The Case of Lt. Kuczynski

By Hugh Turley 

It would take someone like the famous fictional Chinese-American detective, Charlie Chan, to unravel the story of Air Force Lieutenant Anthony Kuczynski.  On the morning of September 11, 2001, Kuczynski’s E-3 Sentry was flying toward Pittsburgh with two F-16 fighter jets to intercept United Flight 93 according to the Aquin, the University of St. Thomas (MN) newspaper (April 12, 2002) and a companion article in the university’s alumni magazine. 

“I was given direct orders to shoot down an airliner,” Kuczynski, a 1998 ROTC graduate of the university said. “It was one of those things where it was an absolutely surreal experience.”  Kuczynski and his crew, deployed in defense of U.S. airspace, were about to intercept United 93 when it crashed. 

The Boeing E-3 is the military’s airborne warning and control system called AWACS.  It provides surveillance, command, control and communications to air defense forces.  F-16 fighter jets under the E-3’s control would have done the actual shooting. 

The Air Force’s official history of the day, “Air War Over America,” published by Tyndall Air Force Base, supports Kuczynski’s story.  NEADS (North East Air Defense Sector) Commander Robert Marr reported that around 9:36, when it changed direction, while it is still flying west, United 93 was being monitored.  NORAD Commander Major General Larry Arnold agreed, saying, “We watched the 93 track as it meandered around the Ohio-Pennsylvania area.” 

Furthermore, Arnold, testified to the 9/11 Commission that he placed fighters over DC, “to put them in position in case United 93 were to head that way.” 

On the first anniversary of the crash, Brigadier General Montague Winfield told ABC News that the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center “received the report from the FAA that Flight 93 had turned off its transponder, had turned, and was now heading towards Washington,” adding, “The decision was made to try to go intercept Flight 93.” 

The 9/11 Commission Report, however, says flatly that the military was not aware of United 93 until it crashed.  The official timeline has FAA headquarters knowing that United 93 was hijacked by 9:34, but not telling NEADS of the hijacking until 10:07, after the plane had crashed at 10:03 in Pennsylvania. 

The Report clearly states, “…[n]o one from FAA headquarters requested military assistance regarding United 93.  Nor did any manager at FAA headquarters pass any of the information it had about United 93 to the military.” 

 The first NEADS knew about it, according to the report, was at 10:07 a.m., when a call came in from the military liaison at Cleveland Center.  “The NEADS air defenders never located the flight or followed it on their radar scopes,” it goes on.  “The flight had already crashed by the time the military learned it was hijacked.” 

Kuczynski’s E-3 Sentry aircraft was never mentioned in the official 9/11 Report.  The Hyattsville Life and Times has been unable to reach Kuczynski for comment, but without Kuczynski’s story America’s true history is suppressed. 

“Contradiction, please! Case still open like swinging gate,” Detective Chan might say in such an instance. 

This article appeared originally in the Hyattsville Life and Times, September 2009. It is reprinted here with their permission.

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